N.C. man drives trailer with effigies of Obama, other officials

(WXIA) -- In the days and weeks leading to Tuesday's general election, North Carolina resident V.R. Phipps has driven the roads of the nation with a trailer that depicts a number of politicians hanging from nooses, including President Obama.

In a rambling YouTube video, Phipps says he created the trailer of hanging elected officials to call attention to the murder of William Henry Phipps, which he says has been ignored by authorities.

In the video, Phipps says the display is not racist, pointing out that if he had been hanging similar effigies when President Bush was in office, he would have included him in his display. In addition to President Obama, the display includes effigies of North Carolina state officials, inculding Gov. Beverly Perdue.

"It is not our fault that Mr. Barack Obama is president and he just happens to be black," Phipps says in the video. "We had nothing to do with it."

According to Raleigh TV station WTVD, Phipps has been driving the wagon around the nation for the past three years, and had driven it through New York City earlier this year before parking it across from the site of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte.

Officials with the North Carolina Republican Party told WTVD they had nothing to do with the display and did not condone what Phipps was doing.